E-coupon app ringing it up

For mobile commerce to be successful, consumers — not the merchants — have to be the driving force, and one of the few companies that has figured that out is our own Waltham-based e-Coupons service SavingStar, which is announcing a huge expansion on Monday.

Rather than trying to get consumers to forgo their credit cards or lure them with "game theory," as Square and LevelUp have done, SavingStar is doing something simpler — and maybe even nobler: They've spent the past three years trying to modernize the ol' grocery store coupon.

Launched in 2011, the digital grocery savings service began helping shoppers earn cash back on purchase at stores such as Stop & Shop, Hannaford, Shaw's, CVS, Wegmans, Roche Bros., and Price Chopper. The soon-to-be-announced expansion adds partnerships with Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Walgreens, Family Dollar and Dollar General.

Spun from Newton-based marketing corporation 
Upromise, SavingStar is a mobile app for Android and iOS that organizes and provides coupons from leading manufacturers — essentially the digital equivalent of the supermarket circular.

But it's more valuable to merchants than paper coupons because it encourages consumers to use their customer loyalty cards at checkout. And that gives the merchants better data about consumption.

As for consumers, they don't see the discount at the register, but in the form of rewards that accumulate as cash, transferable to Paypal, Amazon gift cards or a bank account.

It's brilliant, really. Nothing generates loyalty like checking your bank statement and seeing that a company has actually deposited money rather than withdrawn it.

In addition to the merchant partner expansion, SavingStar is also adding a new feature, allowing consumers to earn discounts just by taking a picture of their receipt.

SavingStar, which claims 
five million users, has raised 
$27.4 million in venture capital since its founding, including a $9.1 million fourth round last year, according to CrunchBase.

SavingStar is consumer-driven, and I wouldn't be surprised if a company like Amazon scoops them up soon.

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New group helps artists brush up biz skills

A new hub for artists trying to mix their creativity with business savvy is holding its annual Marketplace tomorrow in Somerville.

Jessica Burko, a mixed-media artist, photographer and founder and director of Boston Handmade, is holding the event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow in Union Square.

"Our group exists to support creative entrepreneurs in their microbusinesses," said Burko, 40, of Roslindale. "When you go to art school, you don't necessarily get any business training. So our group is all about filling that gap."

Boston Handmade also offers workshops on topics such as how to use social media to market your business.

"I really wanted to meet a group of fellow artists and crafts people like that to bounce ideas off of," said Dana Garczewski, an illustrator whose studio, The Patterned Peacock, is in Watertown.

Garczewski, 36, sees events like the Boston Handmade Marketplace as a chance to show people the value of buying goods handmade locally.

"It's an opportunity to get to know the artists in your own backyard," she said, "and experience art and crafts in a very hands-on way."

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Traditional exterior hides modern home

This stylish new townhouse is one of six similar available units that's bringing a contemporary look to a traditional but highly desirable Somerville neighborhood between Davis and Teele squares.

Each unit at 39-43 Elmwood St. has four levels of living space and features a private outdoor deck carved into its roof. The exteriors of the two buildings are Hardieplank clapboard with white trim with gables as a nod to the existing neighborhood. But the interiors are completely contemporary.

The units feature high-tech components such as iBot smart-home technology, Nest learning thermostats, Sonos music systems and Kohler digital shower valves. Units also come with induction cooktops, Navien tankless water heaters and high-efficiency gas heating and central air-conditioning systems.

In the staged model unit, you enter via a small front porch into a 15-foot high foyer and step up into an open, recessed-lit living/dining area with 13-foot ceilings, oak-stained floors and lots of tall windows with transoms above. In one corner sits a horizontal gas fireplace with a metallic porcelain finished surround. And overhead is built-in surround sound with a Sonos music system that can be operated through a smartphone or iPad.

It's a half flight up to a high-end kitchen, which features custom maple cabinetry including a recipe desk. There are white quartz countertops with glass mosaic backsplash and a quartz island/breakfast bar with contemporary pendant light­ing. High-end Energy­Star appliances include a Sub Zero refrigerator, a Bosch dishwasher and wall ovens and a Bosch electric induction cooktop. Off the kitchen is a half-bath.

The second floor features two bedrooms, two full bathrooms and a closet with a washer/dryer hookup. The oak-floored master bedroom has a walk-in closet with built-in wardrobe system. The en-suite porcelain-tiled bathroom has a walk-in shower with a stylish rolling glass door and a Kohler DTV digital shower valve.

The second bedroom is a bit on the small side, but there is a second full porcelain bathroom with a white subway tile surround for a tub/shower.

The third floor features a third bedroom, a flex space that could also be a home office, study or gym. It opens out onto a private deck cut into the roof of the building.

The lower level features direct access to a one-car garage and a half flight farther down to a carpeted space, ideal for a family room, with an adjacent half bathroom.

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Uber secretive about Hub details

Uber, the private car service app taking Boston by storm, is so shrouded in secrecy that company officials won't answer basic questions such as how many complaints were made against drivers, how many have been fired for misconduct — or even how many are working in town.

The young tech company's spokesman, Taylor Bennett, even refused to answer how many trips Boston riders have taken with Uber, and instead emailed marketing copy on the benefits of the service.

"While that is proprietary, we've done hundreds of thousands of trips since launching back in 2011," Bennett said in an email. "Overall, we've received overwhelming support from both riders and drivers since our launch."

According to Bennett, the number of Uber rider complaints is also kept secret, including gripes about surge pricing, a controversial feature that temporarily hikes fares during peak ridership.

Bennett declined repeated requests for an interview with Uber leadership and insisted the Herald send all questions via email. He did not respond to several follow-up questions yesterday, including whether the company plans to increase transparency.

The red-hot tech startup last month raised 
$1.2 billion in venture capital funding that had investors estimating the worth of the smartphone app transportation service at a whopping $17 billion.

The cash infusion was reportedly led by Fidelity Investments and other backers including Wellington Management, Summit Partners, BlackRock Inc., venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and existing investors such as Google Ventures and Menlo Ventures.

Uber has also come under fire from cab companies beefing that the service is unregulated. A local class-action lawsuit filed last month alleges the company classifies certain drivers as independent contractors, illegally forcing them to pay for gas, insurance and other expenses.

The app service boasts of a "two-way street" feedback feature that allows drivers and passengers to evaluate one another on a five-star rating system after each ride. While riders can see a driver's rating, riders can't see how drivers rate them unless they email customer service.

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Casino hopefuls launch effort to fight repeal of gaming law

High-rolling casino developers, intent on protecting their Bay State investments, are planning to throw their weight behind a new political committee aimed at fighting the anti-casino ballot question, adding to the potential for a fundraising arms race toward the November vote.

"We are definitely part of trying to send a message of all the positive the legislation brings and we'll be active in that. I'm sure we'll be active and involved in strategy," said Mitchell Etess, chief executive officer of Mohegan Sun, which with Penn National Gaming and MGM Resorts, will help fund and support the newly created Committee to Preserve Jobs Associated with Casino Gaming Law, according to people with knowledge of its efforts.

"We'll obviously form a budget and there will be a campaign. As far as the extent of the budget ... we want to get a positive message out there and it's whatever it takes for that," Etess said.

Penn National won the right to build a slots parlor in Plainville, and MGM won the Springfield casino license. Mohegan Sun, which wants to build a casino in Revere, is competing with Wynn Resorts' Everett proposal for the sole Boston area license. A Wynn spokesman could not be reached yesterday.

"We look forward to a statewide education campaign to share with Massachusetts voters the benefits of the proposed resort casinos including more than 10,000 good-paying construction and permanent jobs with benefits and hundreds of millions in revenue annually to our cities and town," read a statement released by attorney Thomas R. Kiley, the committee's chairman.

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GFC builds striking, sustainable condos

It's not easy to get contemporary architecture built in the area's traditional neighborhoods of two- and three-family houses.

But one local development company has created a niche by hiring architects to create housing to attract design-conscious buyers. For Charles Aggouras and Daniel DiPierro of GFC Development, progressive design along with a focus on sustainability differentiates their condos from others on the market.

"We've developed a successful niche by appealing to buyers who want a contemporary look with stylish details and high-efficiency green systems," said GFC president Aggouras.

Aggouras thinks contemporary design is "cool," and he sees it going hand-in-hand with sustainable development.

Aggouras said designing green does more than just save energy: "You build with better windows, insulation, roofing, and in the end create a better product." At 57 Endicott Ave., just off Teele Square in Somerville, GFC built a contemporary-style three-unit eco-friendly building whose exterior was clad with red corrugated steel in a neighborhood of two-family wood homes.

"The neighbors were aghast, but the project sold out very quickly," said architect Jim Zagewitz of MZO Group, who has designed a number of GFC's developments. "A lot of this is driven by millen­nials looking for something different, and there's also a lot of buyers from overseas who feel more comfortable with contemporary design than our traditional gables."

Aggouras' belief in sustainability led him to do a zero net energy house, one that produces more energy than it uses, on city-owned land at 64 Catherine St. on the Jamaica Plain/­Roslindale line. The two-unit project, part of Boston's E+ demonstration program, had to have optimal south-facing roofs for solar photo­voltaic panels, making for a nontraditional shape.

GFC's 15-unit Maxwell's Green townhouse condos near Magoun Square and the five units at 6-8 Beacon St. in Somerville had contemporary design and sold quickly at high prices. They are designed with what's become GFC's signature look, an exterior that combines corrugated metal, cedar, Hardieplank and architectural stone block with very tall windows.

The three/four level interiors have high ceilings, staircases with glass railings, flex rooms for third bedrooms, private balconies and attached one-car garages on the bottom floor. And they include home auto­mation, music systems, Euro-style appliances and fixtures and tankless water heaters — along with such touches as showers with linear drains.

"When we come to the neighborhoods with our designs, they aren't drawn on a cocktail napkin," Aggouras said. "A lot of thought goes into the design of each one. It's a lot more work and takes more time. But we do it because we want to be proud of what we do."

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Experts see job growth for CEOs, other execs

Massachusetts executives are on track to switch jobs at a greater rate than last year as the companies prepare to emerge from their recession-induced hibernation and start expanding again, experts said.

"As a general rule, when there's a lot of management change, (the economy is) actually better," said Richard Jacovitz, senior vice president of Liberum Research. "It's starting to trend up again,"

So far in 2014, 126 executive positions in public companies have been filled either through promotions or new hires, compared to 221 over the entirety of 2013, according to Liberum.

CEO changes around the country this year have also outpaced 2013, with 661 through June compared to 1,246 in 2013, according to Challenger, Gray and Christmas, an employment research firm. Massachusetts companies account for 19 of the CEO departures.

Included in the departures this year are William Swanson, former CEO of Raytheon, Robert Kauffman, chief medical officer for Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and James Malerba, executive vice president of State Street.

"You've got an economy that has stabilized," said Rick Cobb, executive vice-president of Challenger, Gray and Christmas. "The company management team tends to shift from maintenance to, 'Let's see if we can up our game and take it to the next level.' "

As the economy has improved, companies are moving away from stopping losses and saving every penny to looking for potential investments and longer-term growth opportunities.

Since the beginning of 2014, the unemployment rate has dropped .5 percent and the S&P 500 is up 6.73 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen nearly 2.5 percent.

Companies are willing to make changes and make a different, strategic change," Jacovitz said.

Retirements are not necessarily related to the economy, but lately many have been, Cobb said.

"There's a lot of people who took the reins in 2008, 2009," Cobb said. Those executives who put off retirement to bring their firms through the recession are now stepping down, in part because their jobs seem to be done, but also in part because improvements to the stock market make various stock options and their pension more lucrative.

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Aereo tries a new legal approach in effort to survive Supreme Court defeat

Following its loss at the Supreme Court last month, Aereo is pursuing a new legal strategy in an effort to keep its broadcast streaming business alive.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan on Wednesday, Aereo's legal team is claiming that it is eligible for the same statutory license that cable companies pay in providing broadcast transmissions to their subscribers.

Aereo cites the Supreme Court majority opinion, which was rooted in the idea that because Aereo was "substantially similar to" a cable system, it fell under provisions of the 1976 Copyright Act that target such multichannel distributors.

"The Supreme Court's holding that Aereo is a cable system under the Copyright Act is significant because, as a cable system, Aereo is now entitled to the benefits of the copyright statutory license pursuant to the Copyright Act," the company's lawyers said in their letter to Nathan. "Aereo is proceeding to file the necessary statements of account and royalty fees."

Broadcasters, however, object to Aereo's shift in strategy, noting that Aereo previously said that it did not fall under the definition of a cable company. The issue came up during oral arguments before the Supreme Court, but Aereo's attorney David Frederick said it was an equipment provider, not a cable service.

"Whatever Aereo may say about its rationale for raising it now, it is astonishing for Aereo to contend the Supreme Court's decision automatically transformed Aereo into a cable system under Section 111 given its prior statements to this court and the Supreme Court," broadcasters' lawyers wrote.

But Aereo said that it was taking the approach because the Supreme Court "has announced a new and different rule governing Aereo's operations last week."

Other broadcast streaming services have pursued such an approach, but have lost in court. In 2010, ivi Inc. claimed that it should be eligible for a statutory license because it was functioning like a cable company, but the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that approach. The company ceased operations.

Aereo contends that the Supreme Court's decision essentially overturned the 2nd Circuit's ivi decision. That would have tremendous implications for all sorts of over-the-top services, but broadcasters are likely to argue that the Supreme Court's ruling was limited in scope.

Aereo also suggests that if Nathan rejects their effort to qualify for a statutory license, their would seek to limit any injunction to the simultaneous or near-simultaneous streaming of broadcast signals. "The Supreme Court did nothing to prohibit -- and indeed reaffirms the vitality of -- non-simultaneous playback from copies created by consumers," Aereo's lawyers wrote.

Several days after the court ruling, Aereo announced that it was pausing its operations. The company's founder, Chet Kanojia, sent a message to its users on Wednesday that linked to the letter and was headlined, "Our Path Forward."

"From the beginning, it has been our mission to build a lawful technology that would provide consumers with more choice and alternatives in how they watch television," he wrote. "We believed that providing an innovative cloud-based individual antenna would provide consumers with a convenient way to use an antenna to watch the live, free-to-air signals broadcast over public spectrum that belongs to them."

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Sun Valley: Barry Diller goes biking, Rupert Murdoch makes it a family affair

Summer camp for billionaires is back in session as media and technology barons were out in force at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on Wednesday.

UTA chairman Jim Berkus and IAC/InterActiveCorp chairman Barry Diller biked through the resort's mall area despite signs asking guests to stick to walking, not wheels.

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and Resolution founder Jeff Berg chatted amiably while leaving one of the morning sessions.

Wences Casares, CEO of Bitcoin startup Xapo, searched for a bar or restaurant in which to watch the World Cup match between his native Argentina and the Netherlands.

Twenty-first Century Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch made it a family affair, walking into the conference flanked by sons Lachlan and James.

And Discovery CEO David Zaslav and his wife, Pam, walked hand in hand past the media cadre, while former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a sort of swatting gesture at the assembled press.

Other guests glimpsed in and around the exclusive confab were Walt Disney Co. chairman Bob Iger, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, ESPN president John Skipper, the Weinstein Co. co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Not seen: drones, despite a Bloomberg report that the event's security team were looking to the skies in the off-chance any unmanned crafts appeared to photograph or imperil guests.

The outfits screamed vacation. Venture capitalist Peter Thiel sported a crisp white polo shirt, Imagine Entertainment co-founder Brian Grazer showcased camouflage shorts and NBCUniversal vice chairman Ron Meyer expressed his institutional pride with a black "Fast 5" T-shirt, in what appeared to be Portuguese.

It can take work to appear so casual. Alice + Olivia CEO and creative director Stacey Bendet Eisner, resplendent in a silver dress, confessed she changed into three outfits a day, crediting her husband, Eric Eisner, a film producer and son of former Disney chief Eisner, with carrying all her luggage.

Guests listened to presentations by basketball great Phil Jackson and Google's Larry Page, but the main event will take place on Friday when Secretary of State John Kerry is slated to take the stage.

Part of the appeal of the conference is that it unfolds behind closed doors or, in this case, massive hedges, away from the prying eyes of the press. Reporters, with the exception of the New Yorker's Ken Auletta and Charlie Rose, are prevented from attending the discussions or crossing hastily assembled barriers. That gives the moguls' entrances and exits into the conference events the feeling of an informal red carpet, one that features shorts and T-shirts instead of haute couture.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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China inflation eases to 2.3 percent in June

HONG KONG — China's inflation rate eased to 2.3 percent in June as politically sensitive food prices softened, government data released Wednesday showed.

Inflation remains below the 3.5 percent annual target set by the ruling Communist Party. That gives authorities room to cut interest rates or use other measures if needed to shore up the slowing economy in order to meet the official full year growth target of 7.5 percent.

Food costs rose 3.7 percent in June after surging 4.1 percent the month before on a rebound in prices for pork, a staple meat in China.

Excluding food costs, June inflation was 1.7 percent, according to the report by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Inflation fell from 2.5 percent in May, the highest rate since January, when it was at the same level.

Economists said they expect Chinese consumer prices to remain largely stable this year, which will ease pressure on leaders in Beijing who are grappling with the slowdown in the world's No. 2 economy as they try to nurture growth based on domestic consumption and wean it off of trade and investment.

"Inflation will likely stay at benign levels" in the low 2 percent range, said Haibin Zhu, chief China economist at JP Morgan. "This provides room for policymakers to focus on the growth stabilization and structural reforms in the near term."

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Government made $100B in improper payments

WASHINGTON — By its own estimate, the government made about $100 billion in payments last year to people who may not have been entitled to receive them — tax credits to families that didn't qualify, unemployment benefits to people who had jobs and medical payments for treatments that might not have been necessary.

Congressional investigators say the figure could be even higher.

The Obama administration has reduced the amount of improper payments since they peaked in 2010. Still, estimates from federal agencies show that some are wasting big money at a time when Congress is squeezing agency budgets and looking to save more.

"Nobody knows exactly how much taxpayer money is wasted through improper payments, but the federal government's own astounding estimate is more than half a trillion dollars over the past five years," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. "The fact is, improper payments are staggeringly high in programs designed to help those most in need — children, seniors and low-income families."

Mica chairs the House Oversight subcommittee on government operations. The subcommittee is holding a hearing on improper payments Wednesday afternoon.

Each year, federal agencies are required to estimate the amount of improper payments they issue. They include overpayments, underpayments, payments to the wrong recipient and payments that were made without proper documentation.

Some improper payments are the result of fraud, while others are unintentional, caused by clerical errors or mistakes in awarding benefits without proper verification.

In 2013, federal agencies made $97 billion in overpayments, according to agency estimates. Underpayments totaled $9 billion.

The amount of improper payments has steadily dropped since 2010, when it peaked at $121 billion.

The Obama administration has stepped up efforts to measure improper payments, identify the cause and develop plans to reduce them, said Beth Cobert, deputy director of the White House budget office. Agencies recovered more than $22 billion in overpayments last year.

"We have strengthened accountability and transparency, saving the American people money while improving the fiscal responsibility of federal programs," Cobert said in a statement ahead of Wednesday's hearing. "We are pleased with this progress, but know that we have more work to do in this area."

However, a new report by the Government Accountability Office questions the accuracy of agency estimates, suggesting that the real tally could be higher. The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress.

"The federal government is unable to determine the full extent to which improper payments occur and reasonably assure that appropriate actions are taken to reduce them," Beryl H. Davis, director of financial management at the GAO, said in prepared testimony for Wednesday's hearing.

Davis said some agencies don't develop estimates for programs that could be susceptible to improper payments. For example, the Health and Human Services Department says it cannot force states to help it develop estimates for the cash welfare program known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The program is administered by the states.

The largest sources of improper payments are government health care programs, according to agency estimates. Medicare's various health insurance programs for older Americans accounted for $50 billion in improper payments in the 2013 budget year, far exceeding any other program.

Most of the payments were deemed improper because they were issued without proper documentation, said Shantanu Agrawal, a deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In some cases, the paperwork didn't verify that services were medically necessary.

"Payments deemed 'improper' under these circumstances tend to be the result of documentation and coding errors made by the provider as opposed to payments made for inappropriate claims," Agrawal said in prepared testimony for Wednesday's hearing.

Among other programs with large amounts of improper payments:

—The earned income tax credit, which provides payments to the working poor in the form of tax refunds. Last year, improper payments totaled $14.5 billion. That's 24 percent of all payments under the program.

The EITC is one of the largest anti-poverty programs in the U.S., providing $60.3 billion in payments last year. Eligibility depends on income and family size, making it complicated to apply for the credit — and difficult to enforce, said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

"EITC eligibility depends on items that the IRS cannot readily verify through third-party information reporting, including marital status and the relationship and residency of children," Koskinen told a House committee in May. "In addition, the eligible population for the EITC shifts by approximately one-third each year, making it difficult for the IRS to use prior-year data to assist in validating compliance."

— Medicaid, the government health care program for the poor. Last year, improper payments totaled $14.4 billion.

Medicaid, which is run jointly by the federal government and the states, has seen a steady decline in improper payments since 2010, when they peaked at $23 billion.

The program is expanding under President Barack Obama's health law.

—Unemployment insurance, a joint federal-state program that provides temporary benefits to laid-off workers. Amount of improper payments last year: $6.2 billion, or 9 percent of all payments.

The Labor Department said most overpayments went to people who continued to get benefits after returning to work, or who didn't meet state requirements to look for work while they were unemployed. Others were ineligible for benefits because they voluntarily quit their jobs or were fired.

—Supplemental Security Income, a disability program for the poor run by the Social Security Administration. Amount of improper payments: $4.3 billion, or 8 percent of all payments.

Social Security's much larger retirement and disability programs issued $2.4 billion in improper payments, according to agency estimates. Those programs provided more than $770 billion in benefits, so improper payments accounted for less than 1 percent.

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Online: http://www.paymentaccuracy.gov/about-improper-payments

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Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

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World stocks stumble as gains reassessed

TOKYO — Asian stocks fell for a third day Wednesday and European markets traded tepidly as caution spread ahead of corporate earnings and after record highs on Wall Street.

The just-started U.S. earnings season as well China's second quarter GDP figures, due next week, will help investors determine whether the recent run up in stock valuations has been justified. The Dow Jones industrial average last week topped 17,000 for the first time in its 118-year history.

"Investors globally have become a bit more cautious," said IG strategist Ryan Huang in a market commentary.

European markets were muted in early trading. The FTSE100 in Britain lost 0.3 percent to 6,717.02 while France's CAC-40 was little changed, edging up 0.1 percent to 4,345.37. Germany's DAX gained nearly 0.1 percent to 9,779.13.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 recouped some of its losses from earlier in the day to close down 0.1 percent at 15,302.65. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.6 percent to 23,176.07.

Seoul's Kospi dropped 0.3 percent to 2,000.50 and China's Shanghai Composite fell 1.2 percent to 2,038.61. Markets in Australia and Southeast Asia also fell.

"Investors headed for the exits on negative overseas leads," said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney.

"In a glass half-empty trading environment, investors ignored higher iron ore prices, benign China inflation and a strong start to the US reporting season by Alcoa."

The U.S. earnings season got started after the closing bell Tuesday when aluminum maker Alcoa reported results that were better than investors expected. Wells Fargo, the No. 1 home mortgage lender in the U.S., reports on Friday.

The immediate attention of markets is likely to be on the release of minutes later Wednesday from the U.S. Federal Reserve's last policy meeting.

CMC Markets said in a commentary that the minutes are likely to sound more "dovish" than current economic conditions warrant since the Fed's last meeting was before June's strong jobs numbers were released.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude for August delivery was down 5 cents at $103.35 a barrel at 0805 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 13 cents to close at $103.40 on Tuesday.

In currencies, the euro rose slightly to $1.3615 from $1.3612 late Tuesday. The dollar rose to 101.66 yen from 101.52 yen.

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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at twitter.com/yurikageyama

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FCC names teams to review Comcast-TWC, AT&T-DirecTV mergers

Two lawyers formerly with the Justice Department's Antitrust Division will lead FCC review teams looking into the proposed mergers of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, and AT&T with DirecTV.

Hillary Burchuk, trial attorney with the FCC's office of general counsel, will lead the team reviewing Comcast's plans to acquire Time Warner Cable, as well as a related transaction in which Charter Communications will acquire 1.4 million Time Warner Cable subscribers. Another 2.5 million Comcast subscribers will become part of a spinoff company controlled by Charter.

Burchuk was formerly an attorney in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, and was among the team that worked on that department's review of the Comcast and NBC Universal merger in 2011. Government regulators approved that deal subject to a number of conditions.

Jamillia Ferris, who served in the Justice Department from 2010 to 2013, will head the team reviewing the AT&T-DirecTV transaction. Her tenure at the Justice Department included a stint as chief of staff and counsel to William Baer, assistant attorney general of the Antitrust Division. Among the cases she oversaw was the Apple ebook price fixing lawsuit. She most recently has been in private practice with Hunton & Williams.

In an interview in May, before her appointment to the FCC, she told Variety that the government would likely look at a number of potential impacts from the mergers. "Horizontal competition won't be the only way they look at market dynamics and the competitive effects of the transaction," she said. "For example, you can expect that they will examine whether the combined company will have enhanced buying power that results in less or lower quality output when negotiating with content providers. DOJ may also analyze whether that power harms competition with other media companies trying to access content."

The FCC also announced that its general counsel, Jonathan Sallet, will chair a steering committee that will oversee both of the transactions, with members including William Lake, chief of the Media Bureau; Mindel de la Torre, chief of the International Bureau; Julie Veach, chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau; and Roger Sherman, chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.

William Rogerson, a professor at Northwestern University, will serve as senior economist overseeing the transactions. He argued against the Comcast-NBC U merger in 2010, after producing a study commissioned by the American Cable Assn. Shane Greenstein, professor at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, will serve as senior economic consultant on the transactions.

Wall Street analysts said that the announcements signaled that the FCC was about to start its 180-day clock to review the transactions, although that time frame is informal. In a report issued on Monday, Bernstein Research's Paul de Sa wrote that the selections of team members signal a coordinated, efficient review process with the Department of Justice, which also must greenlight the mergers. Bernstein's analysts predict that both transactions will be approved with conditions early in 2015.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Samsung earnings hit by slowing China sales

SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung Electronics Co. said operating profit declined to a two-year low in the second quarter, hit by the strong local currency and slowing demand for smartphones in China.

The result highlights how dependent the company has become on smartphones for its earnings. Sales growth in high-end Android devices has waned after several years of rapid expansion. Growth remains robust in emerging markets where cheap competitors have sprung up.

The South Korean electronics giant said Tuesday its operating income was 7.2 trillion won ($7.1 billion) for the three months ended June 30, down 24 percent from a year earlier. That was significantly below analysts' expectations of about 8 trillion won. The company releases its full quarterly financial results later in the month.

The figure was the lowest since the second quarter of 2012 when Samsung's income was 6.5 trillion won. Since then, Samsung's operating profit hasn't fallen below 8 trillion won, largely driven by robust sales of Galaxy smartphones.

Quarterly sales fell 10 percent from the previous year to 52 trillion won.

Samsung, which usually doesn't elaborate on its financial performance until its full report later in the month, issued a rare statement to explain its result, which Nomura analyst Chung Chang-won described as "very disappointing."

The company blamed the lower profit on the South Korean currency's appreciation against the U.S. dollar and the euro, as well as most emerging market currencies. The won hit a 6-year high against the U.S. dollar earlier this month.

It also said sales of medium- and low-end smartphones were weak in China and in some European countries because of stronger competition and sluggish demand. Fewer consumers in China bought handsets that run on 3G mobile networks as they waited for faster 4G networks.

Samsung, which earlier this year vowed to aggressively expand its tablet sales, acknowledged it faced some challenges in selling tablet computers. Consumers weren't replacing their tablet PCs as often as smartphones, while smartphones with a giant screen of 5 or 6 inches, such as Samsung's Galaxy Note series, replaced demand for smaller tablets that measure about 7 or 8 inches.

"Expectations have been lowered on Samsung," said Will Cho, an analyst at KDB Daewoo Securities. "With intensified competition in the mid- and low-end smartphones, it will be tough to stay as lucrative as in the past."

About three in every 10 smartphones sold globally were made by Samsung in 2013 and the company's handset sales will likely improve during the current quarter. But Cho said how much profit it can take would be more important than how many handsets it can sell because most sales growth would come from cheap smartphones.

In the cheap smartphone market, Samsung faces an uphill battle against brands such as Xiaomi and Lenovo.

Xiaomi, an upstart Chinese company that is moving into other Asian countries, surprised the industry with its $100-level smartphones that were snapped up by fans. Counterpoint Technology Market Research said last month that Xiaomi's $130 smartphone Redmi was the most-sold mobile device in China in April, beating Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy.

Samsung shifted its focus to affordable smartphones, tablets and wearable devices, such as the Gear smartwatches, to offset falling profit but they are yet to arrest the declining earnings from smartphones and components in mobile devices that Samsung supplies such as memory chips and display screens.

Shares of Samsung closed 0.2 percent higher in Seoul as the company gave an outlook that appeared to reassure investors.

"The company cautiously expects a more positive outlook in the third quarter with the coming release of its new smartphone lineup," it said. "Samsung expects stronger smartphone sales and this will have a positive impact on the company's display panel businesses."

But some analysts were not convinced about Samsung's long-term prospects.

"Though we anticipate some positive earnings impact for the component businesses (in the third quarter), we see growing uncertainty over Samsung's future earnings in the long-term," Chung, the Nomura Financial Investment analyst, said in a commentary.

Chung cited Apple's upcoming release of the iPhone 6, the increasing difficulty in standing out from a plethora of other Android devices and the falling appeal of premium smartphones, a reminder of the PC market that came to be flooded with cheap almost identical products.

Samsung is expected to announce an upgrade of the Galaxy Note series in the fall around the time when Apple usually upgrades its iPhone.

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Shares drift after US pulls back from highs

TOKYO — Stock markets drifted lower Tuesday after U.S. indexes pulled back from record highs and investors awaited fresh data from China and corporate earnings.

In Europe, France's CAC-40 lost 0.4 percent to 4,387.15 and Germany's DAX dropped 0.6 percent to 9,853.92. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent, to 6,802.08.

In both Europe and the U.S., investors are watching for earnings reports that could provide a gauge of the strength of the recovery. U.S. markets looked set for a lackluster start, with Dow and S&P 500 futures both down 0.2 percent.

U.S. indexes last week rallied to new highs following a government report that showed the world's largest economy generated a stronger-than-expected 288,000 jobs in June.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index tracked Wall Street's declines, slipping 0.4 percent to 15,314.41 despite fresh data showing the current account surplus was larger than expected in May.

South Korea's Kospi regained lost ground, rising 0.1 percent to 2,006.66 after Samsung announced a double-digit drop in its operating profit in the April-June quarter from a year earlier due to the strong won and slowing smartphone sales in China.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended flat at 23,541.38. Elsewhere in Asia, shares were lower in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore but rose in Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia.

China is due to release inflation figures, which are a key indicator for both policy and economic performance, on Wednesday. Meanwhile, investors are also watching for the outcome of a presidential election Thursday in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation and the third-largest democracy.

"With a lack of strong catalysts for the market today, investors are likely to position themselves for tomorrow's data from China ... and developments from the Indonesian elections," IG said in a market commentary.

In energy markets, U.S. crude for August delivery was down 17 cents to $103.36 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 53 cents to close at $103.53 on Monday.

In currency trading, the euro slipped to $1.3595 from $1.3608 on Monday. The dollar fell to 101.78 yen from 101.82 yen.

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17 coal miners die after blast in west China

BEIJING — Seventeen coal miners have died after being trapped by a weekend gas explosion in northwestern China, an official news agency reported Monday.

The miners were trapped Saturday by the explosion at a mine 120 kilometers (70 miles) from Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, the Xinhua News Agency said. It said Monday they had died and the cause of the incident was under investigation.

China has the world's deadliest mines, although the safety record has improved as regulators strengthen enforcement of safety rules.

Xinhua said the pit where the explosion occurred Saturday is mined by Dahuangshan Yuxin Coal Mining Co. Ltd., owned by the sixth agricultural division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. It is a paramilitary organization that was revived by the central government in the 1980s to aid the region's construction and development.

Three other people working inside the mine were rescued earlier.

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Asian stocks lower ahead of US earnings

BEIJING — Asian stock markets were mostly lower Monday as investors looked ahead to U.S. corporate earnings following last week's strong job numbers.

Oil declined but stayed above $104 per barrel.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was off 0.1 percent at 2,059.65 points and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.1 percent at 23,517.08. Taiwan, Sydney, Seoul and Singapore also registered small declines.

Markets gave up some of last week's gains that followed news the United States generated a stronger-than-expected 288,000 jobs in June, a sign an economic recovery might be gaining traction.

"The market saw another piece of evidence that the U.S. economy is gathering steam while at the same time central bank rhetoric remains dovish," said Credit Agricole CIB in a report.

Japan's Nikkei 225 bucked the regional trend, gaining 0.1 percent to 15,445.92.

Taiwan's Taiex shed 0.2 percent to 9,486.92 and Seoul's Kospi was off 0.4 percent at 2,001.27. Sydney's S&P ASX 200 shed just under 0.1 percent to 5,521.80.

On Thursday, the last U.S. trading day before the Independence Day long weekend, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.6 percent to close above 17,000 for the first time. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq composite also added 0.6 percent.

"Companies in the U.S. are widely expected to report better earnings after the winter slumber," said Desmond Chua of CMC Markets in a report.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 closed unchanged Friday while France's CAC-40 fell 0.5 percent and Germany's DAX shed 0.2 percent.

Oil shed 3 cents to $104.02 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract tumbled 42 cents in the previous session to close at $104.06.

In currency trading, the euro fell to $1.3584 from $1.3594 late Friday. The dollar rose to 102.14 yen from 102.08 yen.

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Oil slips below $104 as supplies set to increase

Oil fell below $104 per barrel on Monday as expectations of increased supply offset strong U.S. job growth.

U.S. crude for August delivery was down 25 cents to $103.81 a barrel at 0620 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract sunk as low as $103.70 on Friday before closing at $104.06.

Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, was up 2 cents at $110.66 on the ICE exchange in London.

Crude fell despite signs the U.S. economy is steadily improving, which typically would increase demand. Employment grew by an unexpectedly large 288,000 workers in June.

Oil has been sliding since it reached a 10-month closing high of $107.26 on June 20 due to concern about an advance by Islamic militants in controlling Iraqi territory. Since then, it has become clear that there are no imminent disruptions to supplies from Iraq, OPEC's second-biggest producer.

On top of that, an agreement in Libya between the central government and a regional militia was expected to lead to the reopening of two eastern oil terminals that would boost the country's crude exports by about 500,000 barrels a day. Libya currently produces around 350,000 barrels of oil a day.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:

— Wholesale gasoline was down 0.5 cent at $3.015 a gallon.

— Natural gas lost 0.7 cent to $4.332 per 1,000 cubic feet.

— Heating oil fell 0.7 cent to $2.922 a gallon.

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Boston firms hosting startups

Some of Boston's big companies are teaming up to house startups in their headquarters to provide mentoring and guidance.

"The idea is to create an industry-specific location that works well with (startups)," said Bill Jacobson, co-founder and CEO of Workbar. "By working with leading industry companies, startups in a specific sector can have space and access to mentorships."

Workbar, which offers shared office space in Cambridge and Boston, along with several other locations, is working with Boston area companies to match early-stage startups with big companies that can help guide them along the way. Called Centers of Excellence, the large companies house and support the startups within their offices.

"It's about developing those relationships," said Ernesto Humpierres, a co-founder of Socrex, a startup that aggregates non-traditional credit information for people with little credit history. Socrex, along with three other financial technology startups, is working out of Digital Federal Credit Union's Boston office.

At DCU, the startups have access to the bank's leadership team for everything from marketing advice to technology help. Even DCU's CEO is getting involved.

"The goal for us is just to learn what's the next best technology that's going to be coming," said David Araujo, vice president of information systems for DCU. "There's so many things we can think of for our users, but at the end of the day there's a lot of young, innovative companies that we can learn from."

Araujo said the immediate goal is not to invest or partner with the companies, but its something DCU is not ruling out.

"We're really there to help them along, but if we can benefit at some point in time, fantastic," Araujo said. He said the best-case scenario is for the companies to develop tools and services that DCU will one day use.

Jacobson is in discussions with a Boston marketing company to create a marketing technology Center of Excellence, and said he is also looking to create design and education technology versions.

"The idea is for younger companies, startup companies to have a little bit more centered knowledge and connections in their industry," Jacobson said.

The marketing center is close to being finalized, Jacobson said, but the others are in their early stages.

Shared office space for startups is on the rise in Boston. National companies WeWork and Coalition have expanded into Boston, and the Cambridge Innovation Center is in the process of opening space for 300 startups in the Financial District.

"There's a ton of co-working spaces in Boston, but there wasn't anyone who had a differentiator for us," Humpierres said. "This gave me access to the experts at DCU and the contacts in the industry."

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How to handle emergency with push-button ignition

In your column you gave advice on what to do if someone experienced a stuck throttle. With a traditional key I understand the steps you mentioned. But our next vehicle may be equipped with a push-button ignition. How would we handle an emergency situation like a stuck accelerator or unintended acceleration? Also, one of the vehicles we are interested in has a push-button transmission, not a normal gear shifter. Does shifting to neutral still apply?

We currently have a vehicle with electronic rather than mechanical door locks and a fob-in-pocket push-button ignition on the dash. I don't care for either of these. If the car battery goes dead, the doors cannot be unlocked from the outside. You must use an emergency key stored in the fob to unlock the rear hatch and pull a cable to mechanically unlock the front door. If you are inside the vehicle when the battery fails and the doors are locked — exceptionally rare, of course, but still a possibility — you must pull an emergency door release lever to open the door.

As modern and slick as this technology is, I can't help but wonder what the true benefits are. A remote keyless entry system opens doors from the outside and a key-in-the-ignition switch started and stopped the engine. Mind you, these electronic systems aren't necessarily bad but I don't see any real advantage.

In reference to dealing with a stuck throttle or unintended acceleration, the push-button ignition switch does suggest a possible complication. In order to shut off the engine, one must depress and hold in the button for a short period of time — a demanding and difficult procedure when dealing with an emergency.

To deal with a stuck throttle/unintended acceleration with a system like this, shift the transmission into neutral, then steer and brake the car to a safe stop — as I suggested in my earlier column. Again, modern engine management systems will prevent the engine from over-revving in neutral in this situation.

Whether the shift mechanism is push-button, floor-mounted or on the steering column doesn't matter. Immediately shift into neutral and then deal with the situation.

I love my Dodge Intrepid, but the headlights have never been adequate. I keep the lenses polished and clear but the lights are worse than the 6-volt bulbs in my 1951 Ford sealed-beam headlights. What can I do? I need better lights to drive at night.

Age and your eyes may be part of this, but regardless, you can upgrade the halogen bulbs in your composite headlamp assemblies. Probably your best choice would be to install a xenon HID (high-intensity discharge) headlamp kit. HID headlamps are original equipment on many newer vehicles and offer a significant improvement in lighting. The installation isn't quite as simple as replacing the standard bulb — it requires a ballast assembly and additional wiring harness. Prices are in the $100-$300 range for the kit.

I have a 2007 Chevy 1500 V8 that can burn E85. I got the flex fuel option when E85 was about 65 cents per gallon less than gas. Now I am seeing a difference of about 25 cents, which means it doesn't make sense to burn E85. Is there a formula for figuring the break-even point? If you use E85 on every fill, will that harm the engine or make it run rough?

There's no perfect answer here. E85 prices vary state-to-state from about 10 to 25 percent less than gasoline, thus the economics vary tremendously. The EPA combined mileage estimates for a 2014 Chevy 5.3-liter K1500 4WD are 18 mpg on gasoline and 13 mpg on E85 — a difference of more than 25 percent. Compare this with the percentage difference in cost between fuels and you'll have your answer for that fill-up. While there is no benefit to engine reliability or durability, E85 won't harm your engine.

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Website sells work of disabled artists

Allen Chamberland has lived on disability for the past decade, but a startup that sells the work of disabled and homeless artists might just change that one day.

About three years ago, Chamberland began doing paper cuttings, intricate designs cut out of a single sheet of paper.

"At first, it started as a hobby to give me something to do," said the 49-year-old South End resident, who was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which makes it difficult for him to breathe.

He never thought he'd be successful at it until a chance encounter last year with Liz Powers, who was looking for works by homeless and disabled artists for a show at Boston's Prudential Center. By the end of the show, a dozen of Chamberland's works had sold.

So last December, Powers and her brother, Spencer, started ArtLifting, a low-profit LLC with a website that initially featured the work of Chamberland and three other artists.

"It was very clear these artists would benefit from having a way to sell their work not just once a year but every day," Spencer Powers said. "And it was also clear that customers loved their work."

Within one month, the company sold $11,000 worth of work, with 55 percent of the profits going to the artists ­­— compared to a typical gallery split of 50/50 — and the rest going toward overhead.

"That first month was a shocker to us," Spencer Powers said. "It showed we could build something great."

The company's first corporate client, Jay Connolly, bought more than two dozen for the commercial buildings his Beverly firm, Connolly Brothers, Inc., owns and manages.

"People have actually come down to our management office and asked what ArtLifting is," Connolly said. "Some of the people in our office even went and bought the original works once they saw the prints."

In May, ArtLifting was one of 128 finalists in the Boston startup accelerator and competition MassChallenge, entitling the company to free office space, mentoring and a chance at a share of 
$1.75 million in cash prizes. Its goal is to one day reach homeless and disabled artists across the country.

"A month or so ago, somebody saw my work on ArtLifting, and because of that, I'm having my first solo show in Cambridge in October," Chamberland said. "If things keep going like this, I won't have to live on disability anymore. And that feels great."

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